Manchester United's Midfield Dilemma: Tchouaméni or Baleba?
Manchester United are edging back towards the top table of European football. If the Premier League season stopped today, Michael Carrick would have dragged them into the Champions League for the first time since that bleak 2023/24 exit in the group stage.
A club that size doesn’t stroll into a new era unprepared. This summer will be brutal and busy: a permanent managerial decision to make, a midfield to rebuild, and a squad to tune for the demands of Europe. One thing is already clear – Casemiro is on his way out, ending a four-year spell that veered between inspired and infuriating.
That departure leaves a hole right at the heart of United’s structure. And it has dragged their recruitment radar firmly towards one position.
United weigh up their next midfield anchor
The headline name is obvious. Aurelien Tchouaméni, the Real Madrid midfielder who has been hailed by analyst Raj Chohan as “one of the best defensive midfielder on the planet”, sits near the top of United’s wish list. Journalist Andy Mitten has even claimed the Frenchman is “the only player in Spain who United have been looking at” in that role.
He would not come cheap. A fee of around £70m has been floated for the La Liga winner, and prising him out of Madrid’s orbit would be a test of any club’s pulling power, even one with Old Trafford’s history.
United have done their homework beyond Tchouaméni. Atalanta’s powerful Ederson and Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali are both admired. So is Carlos Baleba, the Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder whose name keeps circling back into the conversation.
Baleba is not just a name on a long list. There is already a framework in place.
Baleba deal already sketched out
According to transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano, speaking on his YouTube channel, Baleba has been keen on a move to Manchester United for some time. Romano says a verbal agreement on personal terms between Baleba and United remains valid, originally struck for a potential move in 2025.
“Baleba wanted to go to Man United,” Romano said. “An agreement on personal terms remains valid. Man Utd now need to decide whether to go for Baleba or not.”
That’s the crux. The player is open. The groundwork is there. United now have to decide whether to turn long-term interest into a concrete bid.
Several obstacles stand in the way. United still need to confirm who will lead them permanently from the dugout, and any new manager will want a say in such a significant signing. Brighton’s stance is another major factor; they rarely sell cheaply, and they rarely sell without a fight, especially when it comes to a 22-year-old midfielder with obvious upside.
Even so, the numbers around Baleba are tempting. His price is being talked about at around £50m – a substantial fee, but notably below the £70m linked with Tchouaméni and far from the £100m valuation Baleba has previously been associated with.
Why Baleba might be the smarter bet
On pure reputation, choosing Baleba over Tchouaméni sounds like a gamble. One is a Real Madrid regular with a growing medal collection. The other is a Brighton midfielder whose current season has not fully caught fire.
Look a little deeper and the picture sharpens.
Baleba already knows the Premier League. At 22, he has banked a meaningful amount of top-flight experience in England, something Tchouaméni does not yet have. That matters in a division that often chews up imported midfielders before they’ve found their bearings.
His 2024/25 campaign showed just how high his ceiling is. At his peak that season, Baleba operated at a level comparable to Tchouaméni’s 2025/26 output, matching and even bettering the Frenchman in several aspects of their varied midfield roles. That comparison is not about hype; it’s about production and impact.
This season has been more stop-start for Baleba, disrupted enough that he hasn’t dominated the headlines. But the underlying profile remains the same: a strong, combative holding midfielder with the athleticism to cover ground, the aggression to break up play, and a fierce strike from distance. Journalist Ryan Adsett has previously described him as “world-class” in terms of potential, and United’s recruitment team clearly agree he’s worth tracking closely.
At around £50m, he represents a different kind of investment. Less glamour than a marquee raid on Madrid, more room for growth, and a fee that leaves space in the budget for other areas of the squad. If he hits his 2024/25 level again in a United shirt, the club would have secured a long-term successor to Casemiro at a reduced rate.
That’s why, inside Old Trafford, the Tchouaméni dream and the Baleba opportunity feel like two very different types of move. One is a statement. The other could be a solution.
If United decide to act and push Brighton into serious negotiations, that long-standing verbal agreement could finally be tested. Land Baleba at a cut-price £50m, and the chase for Tchouaméni might quickly fade into the background, replaced by a new midfield pillar to build around.
